No, it’s correct. You define the operation by it’s properties. It’s not saying that “a plus 0 = a” but “the result of applying the binary operation ‘+’ to any number with 0 should give the original number.”

• is just a symbol. You could instead write it as +(a,0)=a and +(a,S(b))=S(+(a,b)).

You have to have previously defined 1=S(0), 2=S(1), 3=S(2), and so on.

Thanks for your reply!

I hate having to cater to the lowest common denominator, I had to struggle with un-engaging classes all throughout elementary and middle school. I’ve seriously thought about becoming a teacher so I’d like to ask, in your experience, what happens to the children that are able to process more advanced information? Can something be done to keep them engaged and nurture their development too?

Edited an unfortunate typo

The system works perfectly, it just looks wonky in base 10. In base 3 0.333… looks like 0.1, exactly 0.1

Do you know what an irrational number is?

Sure, let’s do it in base 3. 3 in base 3 is 10, and 3^(-1) is 10^(-1), so:

1/3 in base 10 = 1/10 in base 3
0.3… in base 10 = 0.1 in base 3

Multiply by 3 on both sides:

3 × 0.3… in base 10 = 10 × 0.1 in base 3
0.9… in base 10 = 1 in base 3.

But 1 in base 3 is also 1 in base 10, so:

0.9… in base 10 = 1 in base 10

Carbohydrates are the ones with (H20)n

But snakes are legless lizards. Link to youtube

Edit: Wrong link, I’ll leave the previous one anyways because it’s also fun https://youtu.be/_5jNZyoSszE